The Winter's Tale

Florizel. These your unusual weeds to each part of you
Do give a life: no shepherdess, but Flora
Peering in April's front. This your sheep-shearing
Is as a meeting of the petty gods,
And you the queen on't.
1860

Perdita. Sir, my gracious lord,
To chide at your extremes it not becomes me:
O, pardon, that I name them! Your high self,
The gracious mark o' the land, you have obscured
With a swain's wearing, and me, poor lowly maid,
1865Most goddess-like prank'd up: but that our feasts
In every mess have folly and the feeders
Digest it with a custom, I should blush
To see you so attired, sworn, I think,
To show myself a glass.
1870

Florizel. I bless the time
When my good falcon made her flight across
Thy father's ground.

Perdita. Now Jove afford you cause!
To me the difference forges dread; your greatness
1875Hath not been used to fear. Even now I tremble
To think your father, by some accident,
Should pass this way as you did: O, the Fates!
How would he look, to see his work so noble
Vilely bound up? What would he say? Or how
1880Should I, in these my borrow'd flaunts, behold
The sternness of his presence?

Florizel. Apprehend
Nothing but jollity. The gods themselves,
Humbling their deities to love, have taken
1885The shapes of beasts upon them: Jupiter
Became a bull, and bellow'd; the green Neptune
A ram, and bleated; and the fire-robed god,
Golden Apollo, a poor humble swain,
As I seem now. Their transformations
1890Were never for a piece of beauty rarer,
Nor in a way so chaste, since my desires
Run not before mine honour, nor my lusts
Burn hotter than my faith.

Perdita. O, but, sir,
1895Your resolution cannot hold, when 'tis
Opposed, as it must be, by the power of the king:
One of these two must be necessities,
Which then will speak, that you must
change this purpose,
1900Or I my life.

Florizel. Thou dearest Perdita,
With these forced thoughts, I prithee, darken not
The mirth o' the feast. Or I'll be thine, my fair,
Or not my father's. For I cannot be
1905Mine own, nor any thing to any, if
I be not thine. To this I am most constant,
Though destiny say no. Be merry, gentle;
Strangle such thoughts as these with any thing
That you behold the while. Your guests are coming:
1910Lift up your countenance, as it were the day
Of celebration of that nuptial which
We two have sworn shall come.

Old Shepherd. Fie, daughter! when my old wife lived, upon
This day she was both pantler, butler, cook,
Both dame and servant; welcomed all, served all;
Would sing her song and dance her turn; now here,
At upper end o' the table, now i' the middle;
1925On his shoulder, and his; her face o' fire
With labour and the thing she took to quench it,
She would to each one sip. You are retired,
As if you were a feasted one and not
The hostess of the meeting: pray you, bid
1930These unknown friends to's welcome; for it is
A way to make us better friends, more known.
Come, quench your blushes and present yourself
That which you are, mistress o' the feast: come on,
And bid us welcome to your sheep-shearing,
1935As your good flock shall prosper.

Perdita. [To POLIXENES] Sir, welcome:
It is my father's will I should take on me
The hostess-ship o' the day.
[To CAMILLO]1940You're welcome, sir.
Give me those flowers there, Dorcas. Reverend sirs,
For you there's rosemary and rue; these keep
Seeming and savour all the winter long:
Grace and remembrance be to you both,
1945And welcome to our shearing!

Polixenes. Shepherdess,
A fair one are you—well you fit our ages
With flowers of winter.

Perdita. Sir, the year growing ancient,
1950Not yet on summer's death, nor on the birth
Of trembling winter, the fairest
flowers o' the season
Are our carnations and streak'd gillyvors,
Which some call nature's bastards: of that kind
1955Our rustic garden's barren; and I care not
To get slips of them.

Perdita. For I have heard it said
1960There is an art which in their piedness shares
With great creating nature.

Polixenes. Say there be;
Yet nature is made better by no mean
But nature makes that mean: so, over that art
1965Which you say adds to nature, is an art
That nature makes. You see, sweet maid, we marry
A gentler scion to the wildest stock,
And make conceive a bark of baser kind
By bud of nobler race: this is an art
1970Which does mend nature, change it rather, but
The art itself is nature.

Polixenes. Then make your garden rich in gillyvors,
And do not call them bastards.
1975

Perdita. I'll not put
The dibble in earth to set one slip of them;
No more than were I painted I would wish
This youth should say 'twere well and only therefore
Desire to breed by me. Here's flowers for you;
1980Hot lavender, mints, savoury, marjoram;
The marigold, that goes to bed wi' the sun
And with him rises weeping: these are flowers
Of middle summer, and I think they are given
To men of middle age. You're very welcome.
1985

Camillo. I should leave grazing, were I of your flock,
And only live by gazing.

Perdita. Out, alas!
You'd be so lean, that blasts of January
Would blow you through and through.
1990Now, my fair'st friend,
I would I had some flowers o' the spring that might
Become your time of day; and yours, and yours,
That wear upon your virgin branches yet
Your maidenheads growing: O Proserpina,
1995For the flowers now, that frighted thou let'st fall
From Dis's waggon! daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty; violets dim,
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes
2000Or Cytherea's breath; pale primroses
That die unmarried, ere they can behold
Bight Phoebus in his strength—a malady
Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and
The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds,
2005The flower-de-luce being one! O, these I lack,
To make you garlands of, and my sweet friend,
To strew him o'er and o'er!

Perdita. No, like a bank for love to lie and play on;
2010Not like a corse; or if, not to be buried,
But quick and in mine arms. Come, take your flowers:
Methinks I play as I have seen them do
In Whitsun pastorals: sure this robe of mine
Does change my disposition.
2015

Florizel. What you do
Still betters what is done. When you speak, sweet.
I'ld have you do it ever: when you sing,
I'ld have you buy and sell so, so give alms,
Pray so; and, for the ordering your affairs,
2020To sing them too: when you do dance, I wish you
A wave o' the sea, that you might ever do
Nothing but that; move still, still so,
And own no other function: each your doing,
So singular in each particular,
2025Crowns what you are doing in the present deed,
That all your acts are queens.

Perdita. O Doricles,
Your praises are too large: but that your youth,
And the true blood which peepeth fairly through't,
2030Do plainly give you out an unstain'd shepherd,
With wisdom I might fear, my Doricles,
You woo'd me the false way.

Florizel. I think you have
As little skill to fear as I have purpose
2035To put you to't. But come; our dance, I pray:
Your hand, my Perdita: so turtles pair,
That never mean to part.

Clown. Not a word, a word; we stand upon our manners.
Come, strike up!
[Music. Here a dance of Shepherds and]Shepherdesses]

Polixenes. Pray, good shepherd, what fair swain is this
2055Which dances with your daughter?

Old Shepherd. They call him Doricles; and boasts himself
To have a worthy feeding: but I have it
Upon his own report and I believe it;
He looks like sooth. He says he loves my daughter:
2060I think so too; for never gazed the moon
Upon the water as he'll stand and read
As 'twere my daughter's eyes: and, to be plain.
I think there is not half a kiss to choose
Who loves another best.
2065

Old Shepherd. So she does any thing; though I report it,
That should be silent: if young Doricles
Do light upon her, she shall bring him that
Which he not dreams of.
2070

[Enter Servant]

Servant. O master, if you did but hear the pedlar at the
door, you would never dance again after a tabour and
pipe; no, the bagpipe could not move you: he sings
several tunes faster than you'll tell money; he
2075utters them as he had eaten ballads and all men's
ears grew to his tunes.

Clown. He could never come better; he shall come in. I
love a ballad but even too well, if it be doleful
matter merrily set down, or a very pleasant thing
2080indeed and sung lamentably.

Servant. He hath songs for man or woman, of all sizes; no
milliner can so fit his customers with gloves: he
has the prettiest love-songs for maids; so without
bawdry, which is strange; with such delicate
2085burthens of dildos and fadings, 'jump her and thump
her;' and where some stretch-mouthed rascal would,
as it were, mean mischief and break a foul gap into
the matter, he makes the maid to answer 'Whoop, do me
no harm, good man;' puts him off, slights him, with
2090'Whoop, do me no harm, good man.'

Clown. Believe me, thou talkest of an admirable conceited
fellow. Has he any unbraided wares?

Servant. He hath ribbons of an the colours i' the rainbow;
2095points more than all the lawyers in Bohemia can
learnedly handle, though they come to him by the
gross: inkles, caddisses, cambrics, lawns: why, he
sings 'em over as they were gods or goddesses; you
would think a smock were a she-angel, he so chants
2100to the sleeve-hand and the work about the square on't.

Mopsa. He hath paid you all he promised you; may be, he has
paid you more, which will shame you to give him again.

Clown. Is there no manners left among maids? will they
wear their plackets where they should bear their
2130faces? Is there not milking-time, when you are
going to bed, or kiln-hole, to whistle off these
secrets, but you must be tittle-tattling before all
our guests? 'tis well they are whispering: clamour
your tongues, and not a word more.
2135

Mopsa. I have done. Come, you promised me a tawdry-lace
and a pair of sweet gloves.

Clown. Have I not told thee how I was cozened by the way
and lost all my money?

Autolycus. And indeed, sir, there are cozeners abroad;
2140therefore it behoves men to be wary.

Clown. Come on, lay it by: and let's first see moe
ballads; we'll buy the other things anon.

Autolycus. Here's another ballad of a fish, that appeared upon
2160the coast on Wednesday the four-score of April,
forty thousand fathom above water, and sung this
ballad against the hard hearts of maids: it was
thought she was a woman and was turned into a cold
fish for she would not exchange flesh with one that
2165loved her: the ballad is very pitiful and as true.

Mopsa. Thou hast sworn it more to me:
Then whither goest? say, whither?

Clown. We'll have this song out anon by ourselves: my
father and the gentlemen are in sad talk, and we'll
2200not trouble them. Come, bring away thy pack after
me. Wenches, I'll buy for you both. Pedlar, let's
have the first choice. Follow me, girls.

[Exit with DORCAS and MOPSA]

Autolycus. And you shall pay well for 'em.
2205[Follows singing]Will you buy any tape,
Or lace for your cape,
My dainty duck, my dear-a?
Any silk, any thread,
2210Any toys for your head,
Of the new'st and finest, finest wear-a?
Come to the pedlar;
Money's a medler.
That doth utter all men's ware-a.
2215

[Exit]

[Re-enter Servant]

Servant. Master, there is three carters, three shepherds,
three neat-herds, three swine-herds, that have made
themselves all men of hair, they call themselves
2220Saltiers, and they have a dance which the wenches
say is a gallimaufry of gambols, because they are
not in't; but they themselves are o' the mind, if it
be not too rough for some that know little but
bowling, it will please plentifully.
2225

Old Shepherd. Away! we'll none on 't: here has been too much
homely foolery already. I know, sir, we weary you.

Polixenes. You weary those that refresh us: pray, let's see
these four threes of herdsmen.

Servant. One three of them, by their own report, sir, hath
2230danced before the king; and not the worst of the
three but jumps twelve foot and a half by the squier.

Old Shepherd. Leave your prating: since these good men are
pleased, let them come in; but quickly now.

Polixenes. O, father, you'll know more of that hereafter.
[To CAMILLO]Is it not too far gone? 'Tis time to part them.
2240He's simple and tells much.
[To FLORIZEL]How now, fair shepherd!
Your heart is full of something that does take
Your mind from feasting. Sooth, when I was young
2245And handed love as you do, I was wont
To load my she with knacks: I would have ransack'd
The pedlar's silken treasury and have pour'd it
To her acceptance; you have let him go
And nothing marted with him. If your lass
2250Interpretation should abuse and call this
Your lack of love or bounty, you were straited
For a reply, at least if you make a care
Of happy holding her.

Florizel. Old sir, I know
2255She prizes not such trifles as these are:
The gifts she looks from me are pack'd and lock'd
Up in my heart; which I have given already,
But not deliver'd. O, hear me breathe my life
Before this ancient sir, who, it should seem,
2260Hath sometime loved! I take thy hand, this hand,
As soft as dove's down and as white as it,
Or Ethiopian's tooth, or the fann'd
snow that's bolted
By the northern blasts twice o'er.
2265

Polixenes. What follows this?
How prettily the young swain seems to wash
The hand was fair before! I have put you out:
But to your protestation; let me hear
What you profess.
2270

Florizel. And he, and more
Than he, and men, the earth, the heavens, and all:
That, were I crown'd the most imperial monarch,
2275Thereof most worthy, were I the fairest youth
That ever made eye swerve, had force and knowledge
More than was ever man's, I would not prize them
Without her love; for her employ them all;
Commend them and condemn them to her service
2280Or to their own perdition.

Polixenes. Methinks a father
Is at the nuptial of his son a guest
That best becomes the table. Pray you once more,
Is not your father grown incapable
Of reasonable affairs? is he not stupid
2310With age and altering rheums? can he speak? hear?
Know man from man? dispute his own estate?
Lies he not bed-rid? and again does nothing
But what he did being childish?

Florizel. No, good sir;
2315He has his health and ampler strength indeed
Than most have of his age.

Polixenes. By my white beard,
You offer him, if this be so, a wrong
Something unfilial: reason my son
2320Should choose himself a wife, but as good reason
The father, all whose joy is nothing else
But fair posterity, should hold some counsel
In such a business.

Florizel. I yield all this;
2325But for some other reasons, my grave sir,
Which 'tis not fit you know, I not acquaint
My father of this business.

Polixenes. Mark your divorce, young sir,
[Discovering himself]Whom son I dare not call; thou art too base
To be acknowledged: thou a sceptre's heir,
2340That thus affect'st a sheep-hook! Thou old traitor,
I am sorry that by hanging thee I can
But shorten thy life one week. And thou, fresh piece
Of excellent witchcraft, who of force must know
The royal fool thou copest with,—
2345

Polixenes. I'll have thy beauty scratch'd with briers, and made
More homely than thy state. For thee, fond boy,
If I may ever know thou dost but sigh
That thou no more shalt see this knack, as never
2350I mean thou shalt, we'll bar thee from succession;
Not hold thee of our blood, no, not our kin,
Far than Deucalion off: mark thou my words:
Follow us to the court. Thou churl, for this time,
Though full of our displeasure, yet we free thee
2355From the dead blow of it. And you, enchantment.—
Worthy enough a herdsman: yea, him too,
That makes himself, but for our honour therein,
Unworthy thee,—if ever henceforth thou
These rural latches to his entrance open,
2360Or hoop his body more with thy embraces,
I will devise a death as cruel for thee
As thou art tender to't.

[Exit]

Perdita. Even here undone!
2365I was not much afeard; for once or twice
I was about to speak and tell him plainly,
The selfsame sun that shines upon his court
Hides not his visage from our cottage but
Looks on alike. Will't please you, sir, be gone?
2370I told you what would come of this: beseech you,
Of your own state take care: this dream of mine,—
Being now awake, I'll queen it no inch farther,
But milk my ewes and weep.

Old Shepherd. I cannot speak, nor think
Nor dare to know that which I know. O sir!
You have undone a man of fourscore three,
That thought to fill his grave in quiet, yea,
2380To die upon the bed my father died,
To lie close by his honest bones: but now
Some hangman must put on my shroud and lay me
Where no priest shovels in dust. O cursed wretch,
That knew'st this was the prince,
2385and wouldst adventure
To mingle faith with him! Undone! undone!
If I might die within this hour, I have lived
To die when I desire.

[Exit]

Florizel. Why look you so upon me?
I am but sorry, not afeard; delay'd,
But nothing alter'd: what I was, I am;
More straining on for plucking back, not following
My leash unwillingly.
2395

Camillo. Gracious my lord,
You know your father's temper: at this time
He will allow no speech, which I do guess
You do not purpose to him; and as hardly
Will he endure your sight as yet, I fear:
2400Then, till the fury of his highness settle,
Come not before him.

Perdita. How often have I told you 'twould be thus!
How often said, my dignity would last
But till 'twere known!

Florizel. It cannot fail but by
The violation of my faith; and then
2410Let nature crush the sides o' the earth together
And mar the seeds within! Lift up thy looks:
From my succession wipe me, father; I
Am heir to my affection.

Florizel. So call it: but it does fulfil my vow;
I needs must think it honesty. Camillo,
Not for Bohemia, nor the pomp that may
Be thereat glean'd, for all the sun sees or
The close earth wombs or the profound sea hides
2425In unknown fathoms, will I break my oath
To this my fair beloved: therefore, I pray you,
As you have ever been my father's honour'd friend,
When he shall miss me,—as, in faith, I mean not
To see him any more,—cast your good counsels
2430Upon his passion; let myself and fortune
Tug for the time to come. This you may know
And so deliver, I am put to sea
With her whom here I cannot hold on shore;
And most opportune to our need I have
2435A vessel rides fast by, but not prepared
For this design. What course I mean to hold
Shall nothing benefit your knowledge, nor
Concern me the reporting.

Florizel. Hark, Perdita
[Drawing her aside]I'll hear you by and by.
2445

Camillo. He's irremoveable,
Resolved for flight. Now were I happy, if
His going I could frame to serve my turn,
Save him from danger, do him love and honour,
Purchase the sight again of dear Sicilia
2450And that unhappy king, my master, whom
I so much thirst to see.

Florizel. Now, good Camillo;
I am so fraught with curious business that
I leave out ceremony.
2455

Camillo. Sir, I think
You have heard of my poor services, i' the love
That I have borne your father?

Florizel. Very nobly
Have you deserved: it is my father's music
2460To speak your deeds, not little of his care
To have them recompensed as thought on.

Camillo. Well, my lord,
If you may please to think I love the king
And through him what is nearest to him, which is
2465Your gracious self, embrace but my direction:
If your more ponderous and settled project
May suffer alteration, on mine honour,
I'll point you where you shall have such receiving
As shall become your highness; where you may
2470Enjoy your mistress, from the whom, I see,
There's no disjunction to be made, but by—
As heavens forefend!—your ruin; marry her,
And, with my best endeavours in your absence,
Your discontenting father strive to qualify
2475And bring him up to liking.

Florizel. How, Camillo,
May this, almost a miracle, be done?
That I may call thee something more than man
And after that trust to thee.
2480

Florizel. Not any yet:
But as the unthought-on accident is guilty
To what we wildly do, so we profess
2485Ourselves to be the slaves of chance and flies
Of every wind that blows.

Camillo. Then list to me:
This follows, if you will not change your purpose
But undergo this flight, make for Sicilia,
2490And there present yourself and your fair princess,
For so I see she must be, 'fore Leontes:
She shall be habited as it becomes
The partner of your bed. Methinks I see
Leontes opening his free arms and weeping
2495His welcomes forth; asks thee the son forgiveness,
As 'twere i' the father's person; kisses the hands
Of your fresh princess; o'er and o'er divides him
'Twixt his unkindness and his kindness; the one
He chides to hell and bids the other grow
2500Faster than thought or time.

Florizel. Worthy Camillo,
What colour for my visitation shall I
Hold up before him?

Camillo. Sent by the king your father
2505To greet him and to give him comforts. Sir,
The manner of your bearing towards him, with
What you as from your father shall deliver,
Things known betwixt us three, I'll write you down:
The which shall point you forth at every sitting
2510What you must say; that he shall not perceive
But that you have your father's bosom there
And speak his very heart.

Camillo. A cause more promising
Than a wild dedication of yourselves
To unpath'd waters, undream'd shores, most certain
To miseries enough; no hope to help you,
But as you shake off one to take another;
2520Nothing so certain as your anchors, who
Do their best office, if they can but stay you
Where you'll be loath to be: besides you know
Prosperity's the very bond of love,
Whose fresh complexion and whose heart together
2525Affliction alters.

Perdita. One of these is true:
I think affliction may subdue the cheek,
But not take in the mind.

Camillo. Yea, say you so?
2530There shall not at your father's house these
seven years
Be born another such.

Florizel. My good Camillo,
She is as forward of her breeding as
2535She is i' the rear our birth.

Camillo. I cannot say 'tis pity
She lacks instructions, for she seems a mistress
To most that teach.

Florizel. My prettiest Perdita!
But O, the thorns we stand upon! Camillo,
Preserver of my father, now of me,
The medicine of our house, how shall we do?
2545We are not furnish'd like Bohemia's son,
Nor shall appear in Sicilia.

Camillo. My lord,
Fear none of this: I think you know my fortunes
Do all lie there: it shall be so my care
2550To have you royally appointed as if
The scene you play were mine. For instance, sir,
That you may know you shall not want, one word.

[They talk aside]

[Re-enter AUTOLYCUS]

Autolycus. Ha, ha! what a fool Honesty is! and Trust, his
sworn brother, a very simple gentleman! I have sold
all my trumpery; not a counterfeit stone, not a
ribbon, glass, pomander, brooch, table-book, ballad,
knife, tape, glove, shoe-tie, bracelet, horn-ring,
2560to keep my pack from fasting: they throng who
should buy first, as if my trinkets had been
hallowed and brought a benediction to the buyer:
by which means I saw whose purse was best in
picture; and what I saw, to my good use I
2565remembered. My clown, who wants but something to
be a reasonable man, grew so in love with the
wenches' song, that he would not stir his pettitoes
till he had both tune and words; which so drew the
rest of the herd to me that all their other senses
2570stuck in ears: you might have pinched a placket, it
was senseless; 'twas nothing to geld a codpiece of a
purse; I could have filed keys off that hung in
chains: no hearing, no feeling, but my sir's song,
and admiring the nothing of it. So that in this
2575time of lethargy I picked and cut most of their
festival purses; and had not the old man come in
with a whoo-bub against his daughter and the king's
son and scared my choughs from the chaff, I had not
left a purse alive in the whole army.
2580

[CAMILLO, FLORIZEL, and PERDITA come forward]

Camillo. Nay, but my letters, by this means being there
So soon as you arrive, shall clear that doubt.

Camillo. Why, be so still; here's nobody will steal that from
thee: yet for the outside of thy poverty we must
make an exchange; therefore discase thee instantly,
—thou must think there's a necessity in't,—and
change garments with this gentleman: though the
2600pennyworth on his side be the worst, yet hold thee,
there's some boot.

Autolycus. Indeed, I have had earnest: but I cannot with
conscience take it.

Camillo. Unbuckle, unbuckle.
[FLORIZEL and AUTOLYCUS exchange garments]2615Fortunate mistress,—let my prophecy
Come home to ye!—you must retire yourself
Into some covert: take your sweetheart's hat
And pluck it o'er your brows, muffle your face,
Dismantle you, and, as you can, disliken
2620The truth of your own seeming; that you may—
For I do fear eyes over—to shipboard
Get undescried.

Florizel. O Perdita, what have we twain forgot!
Pray you, a word.
2635

Camillo. [Aside] What I do next, shall be to tell the king
Of this escape and whither they are bound;
Wherein my hope is I shall so prevail
To force him after: in whose company
I shall review Sicilia, for whose sight
2640I have a woman's longing.

Autolycus. I understand the business, I hear it: to have an
open ear, a quick eye, and a nimble hand, is
necessary for a cut-purse; a good nose is requisite
also, to smell out work for the other senses. I see
this is the time that the unjust man doth thrive.
2650What an exchange had this been without boot! What
a boot is here with this exchange! Sure the gods do
this year connive at us, and we may do any thing
extempore. The prince himself is about a piece of
iniquity, stealing away from his father with his
2655clog at his heels: if I thought it were a piece of
honesty to acquaint the king withal, I would not
do't: I hold it the more knavery to conceal it;
and therein am I constant to my profession.
[Re-enter Clown and Shepherd]2660Aside, aside; here is more matter for a hot brain:
every lane's end, every shop, church, session,
hanging, yields a careful man work.

Clown. See, see; what a man you are now!
There is no other way but to tell the king
2665she's a changeling and none of your flesh and blood.

Clown. She being none of your flesh and blood, your flesh
2670and blood has not offended the king; and so your
flesh and blood is not to be punished by him. Show
those things you found about her, those secret
things, all but what she has with her: this being
done, let the law go whistle: I warrant you.
2675

Old Shepherd. I will tell the king all, every word, yea, and his
son's pranks too; who, I may say, is no honest man,
neither to his father nor to me, to go about to make
me the king's brother-in-law.

Clown. Indeed, brother-in-law was the farthest off you
2680could have been to him and then your blood had been
the dearer by I know how much an ounce.

Autolycus. Your affairs there, what, with whom, the condition
of that fardel, the place of your dwelling, your
2695names, your ages, of what having, breeding, and any
thing that is fitting to be known, discover.

Autolycus. A lie; you are rough and hairy. Let me have no
lying: it becomes none but tradesmen, and they
2700often give us soldiers the lie: but we pay them for
it with stamped coin, not stabbing steel; therefore
they do not give us the lie.

Clown. Your worship had like to have given us one, if you
had not taken yourself with the manner.
2705

Autolycus. Whether it like me or no, I am a courtier. Seest
thou not the air of the court in these enfoldings?
hath not my gait in it the measure of the court?
receives not thy nose court-odor from me? reflect I
2710not on thy baseness court-contempt? Thinkest thou,
for that I insinuate, or toaze from thee thy
business, I am therefore no courtier? I am courtier
cap-a-pe; and one that will either push on or pluck
back thy business there: whereupon I command thee to
2715open thy affair.

Autolycus. Not he alone shall suffer what wit can make heavy
2750and vengeance bitter; but those that are germane to
him, though removed fifty times, shall all come
under the hangman: which though it be great pity,
yet it is necessary. An old sheep-whistling rogue a
ram-tender, to offer to have his daughter come into
2755grace! Some say he shall be stoned; but that death
is too soft for him, say I. draw our throne into a
sheep-cote! all deaths are too few, the sharpest too easy.

Clown. Has the old man e'er a son, sir, do you hear. an't
like you, sir?
2760

Autolycus. He has a son, who shall be flayed alive; then
'nointed over with honey, set on the head of a
wasp's nest; then stand till he be three quarters
and a dram dead; then recovered again with
aqua-vitae or some other hot infusion; then, raw as
2765he is, and in the hottest day prognostication
proclaims, shall be be set against a brick-wall, the
sun looking with a southward eye upon him, where he
is to behold him with flies blown to death. But what
talk we of these traitorly rascals, whose miseries
2770are to be smiled at, their offences being so
capital? Tell me, for you seem to be honest plain
men, what you have to the king: being something
gently considered, I'll bring you where he is
aboard, tender your persons to his presence,
2775whisper him in your behalfs; and if it be in man
besides the king to effect your suits, here is man
shall do it.

Clown. He seems to be of great authority: close with him,
give him gold; and though authority be a stubborn
2780bear, yet he is oft led by the nose with gold: show
the inside of your purse to the outside of his hand,
and no more ado. Remember 'stoned,' and 'flayed alive.'

Old Shepherd. An't please you, sir, to undertake the business for
us, here is that gold I have: I'll make it as much
2785more and leave this young man in pawn till I bring it you.

Autolycus. Well, give me the moiety. Are you a party in this business?

Clown. In some sort, sir: but though my case be a pitiful
2790one, I hope I shall not be flayed out of it.

Autolycus. O, that's the case of the shepherd's son: hang him,
he'll be made an example.

Clown. Comfort, good comfort! We must to the king and show
our strange sights: he must know 'tis none of your
2795daughter nor my sister; we are gone else. Sir, I
will give you as much as this old man does when the
business is performed, and remain, as he says, your
pawn till it be brought you.

Autolycus. I will trust you. Walk before toward the sea-side;
2800go on the right hand: I will but look upon the
hedge and follow you.

Old Shepherd. Let's before as he bids us: he was provided to do us good.

[Exeunt Shepherd and Clown]

Autolycus. If I had a mind to be honest, I see Fortune would
not suffer me: she drops booties in my mouth. I am
courted now with a double occasion, gold and a means
to do the prince my master good; which who knows how
that may turn back to my advancement? I will bring
2810these two moles, these blind ones, aboard him: if he
think it fit to shore them again and that the
complaint they have to the king concerns him
nothing, let him call me rogue for being so far
officious; for I am proof against that title and
2815what shame else belongs to't. To him will I present
them: there may be matter in it.